This entry will move A LOT quicker than my last one. For the most part, it was the same routine besides a few changes due to Saturday's game starting at 1:10 in the afternoon.
Before I talk about anything else, I must give the biggest out shout-outs, the greatest of thanks, and the utmost of props to a friend from high school named Brian. He's a student at UW Milwaukee, and has an apartment a mere 15 minutes from the park. Without him, I would have been forced to go home to Schaumburg after Friday's game and do absolutely nothing on Saturday. He only put me up for a few hours, but that allowed me to squeeze in this entire extra day of Ballhawking.
As you can see, the tailgaters were already setting up at 10:15 AM. I didn't have to show up quite as early as yesterday, simply because players don't do as much before afternoon starts. There was always the chance that there would be no batting practice, so I was moderately worried when I was walking up to Friday's to meet Shawn. We played catch and it got my blood pumping once again. It worked wonders yesterday, so I'm going to try my hardest to find someone to play with before every game if I can.
Unlike yesterday, fans were already sitting down to eat. That meant we had to be actual customers occupying a table and ordering. This is when I met Shawn's mom, Sue. Don't let "mom" fool you; she knew more about baseball than me. We talked about the Cubs and Wrigley, as well as my own Ballhawking journey. Her and Shawn had some burgers, so I just hung out and stared at the field, waiting for something (ANYTHING) to happen.
Yep. No cage. This was very depressing. We didn't expect the situation to improve, either. Some of the solar lights were still not put away.
The entire playing surface was replaced sometime around November, and hasn't exactly been able to get a ton of sunlight. Thanks to the coldest winter ever recorded in the Midwest, the roof has been closed for literally the entire off-season. So, whenever it's possible, they slowly roll these across the field to get the grass to actually grow.
I enjoyed the relaxation. It was a big change from being pumped up and energized like the previous afternoon, and basically every other game I get to. The air smelled fresher, the park was a little brighter, and the conversations weren't so rigid and rushed.
At about 11 AM, the gates of Heaven opened, and out rolled the batting cage.
I was just happy to be Ballhawking for the second day in a row. Now this good fortune? I may have been the happiest person in all of Wisconsin for a few minutes.
The Royals pitchers came out, and things started to look more normal. All was right in the world, and I was loving every second of it.
Shawn finished eating, and assumed the position against the back gate of the upper patio. Before we were completely ready and paying attention, the first guy stepped in and took a swing. I subconsciously heard it, and soon saw a guy right in front of me bending down "Oh, I guess he has that ball that was just hit". I thought nothing of it. I had another 45 minutes of action to watch.
When he picked it up, he turned completely around to face me. All I did was hold up my glove, and he fired it to me.
I really do mean FIRED. It's probably the fastest thrown ball that's ever found my glove. The thing I liked most about this ball was that it was my 5th of the weekend, and the very first one thrown to me by a player. Without even putting a whole ton of effort or thought into it, I'm starting to find better ways to get a greater amount of balls.
Per the same rules as yesterday, gates opened 90 minutes before the game at 11:40. All the same regulars were here, and we once again entered through the indoor gate of left field.
The entire outfield was riddled with relief pitchers.
One of the things Shawn wants to do this year is catch some Ballhawking action on camera. He put a case on his phone that could probably withstand an atomic bomb, and was rolling for a few minutes once we were all situated.
He caught some good stuff, especially since he was only rolling for eight minutes.
For some reason, YouTube is not cooperating. Instead of embedding the videos, you'll have to click on the links. Apologies for that:
With a 'do something about it' expression on his face, Shawn sarcastically said "You see these green things people sit on? You can actually climb over them", while taking a look at the ball. As I mumbled out some sort of excuse, he stopped me short and said "That's for yesterday. Now we're even."
Being an extra row up would have helped, but I wasn't going to miss it because of that. If he wasn't there, it would have been as clean a catch as any. Because of his improved (not even that much better) position, he was able to grab it from me without needing to get in my way. This is yet another lesson I learned. I can't just get to a catch-able spot, I need to find the BEST spot around the landing area so I don't get robbed like he just did to me.
We went to right field briefly, but nothing happened. Then back to left. Nothing happened there either. It was pretty boring. I'm not exactly sure why. More people, less homers, general bad luck...those are all possible. Nothing really sticks out to me, probably because my internal memory was full from trying to remember everything for my entries.
BP came to a close, and all the Ballhawks met up in left field. After each guy briefly shared their accomplishments for the morning, the discussion switched to Opening Day. The Brewers would be hosting the Braves on Monday. They talked about the huge crowds and sold out park, good BP hitters on the team, and other good BP teams that will roll through Milwaukee this year. I wasn't a very big part of the discussion since I didn't have much to offer about that stuff, but this may have been my favorite moment of the entire weekend. I've never before found myself in a group that knows just as much (or more, in this case) than me about catching baseballs and other things outside of the actual game. I felt like I found my niche in the baseball and Ballhawking world, right there in section 237 of Miller Park.
Everyone took off in their separate directions with a few minutes to spare. Shawn was staying in left field once again to take advantage of the empty bleachers. Before leaving for my seat, I wanted to see if Marco Estrada would give me his warm up ball. There was never a good time to ask, and I didn't want to resort back to being the ball-begging tool. Same story with Lucroy and the bullpen coach.
So off I went, to a slightly different seat that I originally felt was less ideal.
By the time I finalized my stay with Brian, there were only a few days until the game. Due to my cautious hesitation before picking up a ticket, this seat was pretty much the only one left where I could still do my thing. That aisle you see is the last one of the seating area; the press box ends just behind me and to the right.
I wasn't too thrilled when I saw this was my only option. Although, after I thought about it, I realized there's a lot of good that could come out of it. This particular seat favors right handed batters much more than my seat in the middle of the cross aisle. Rather than a 50/50 type of spot, I was automatically in the best position for more than half of hitters that stepped to the plate.
Here's my best shot of America's biggest cheating dirtbag:
Shawn had a tad bit more traffic to work around than yesterday.
I'll make the rest of this fairly short - NOTHING HAPPENED. I jumped up for a total of two balls.
In the 1st inning, Braun sent one back that I got a decent jump on. It landed in the perfect spot on the stairs leading up to the concourse (not the aisle), and ricocheted straight back down to the third row. If it varied just an inch and hit the stairs in any sort of different way, I'd probably have a picture of it below this paragraph.
The next one was later in the game, and going to the same spot. I was half way across the last section on my right and was keeping my eye on the ball wile running. I had a perfect view of the guy trying to catch it. His hands were up, but didn't do a very good job. The line drive hit him square in the face above his left eye. He fell down in shock, as anyone would, and shook it off. It wasn't coming in all that fast and it didn't even look like there was a bruise.
This conversation then played out with Shawn:
I sat in that seat for about five innings, then I had to move to my assigned one. I originally avoided it because a couple brought their three small children and I wanted to give them some space. I made the usher be the jerk in that situation.
The Mom said, "Well, if it has to be anyone, I'm glad it's you so you can protect us!"
"Don't worry, you have the safest seat in this entire ballpark right now", I replied.
Chorizo won the race....
The Brewers won the game.....
And I didn't get a SINGLE ball up here. I was shocked. I guess some days just aren't the best for it up here. Even when I do everything right, it's all still completely unpredictable.
When the final out was made, I felt disappointed, stressed, thankful, and worried. Had that batter not hit the ball in my direction on the first BP pitch, my streak would have been over. That's not good. Yes, I still got a ball, but I was only one small detail away from going home empty handed. I don't like that at all. That leads me to believe I was more lucky than skillful. Getting two from each game would ease my mind about what could have happened or the worst case scenario. From now on, no matter how I get them, I always want to leave with at least two.
Sadly, my weekend was over. I really, really wish I could have had one more game with these guys on Opening Day, but I stayed long enough already. If any of you Milwaukee Ballhawks have found the time to read this, thank you so much for having me. You allowed me into your group, no questions asked, and treated me like one of your own. You wanted to know more about how I started, where I came from, and what I've done with my time in the bleachers. I love telling people about that stuff, so thanks for asking and listening.
Shawn and I got our "cheesy blog picture" before we both headed out:
 |
Thank YOU the most for having me, Shawn. Last season was kind of a bust in terms of meeting up, but I'll do my best to fix that this year. I hope you enjoy the company as much as I do. If you keep giving me tips and advice, it's only a matter of time before I start keeping up with you, or even beating you on a regular basis. Watch your back.
STATS
- 1 ball at this game
- 5 balls total this season
- 23 consecutive games with a ball
- 69 lifetime balls
- Time spent at game: 5 hours, 45 minutes
- Total time spent at games in 2014: 13 hours, 25 minutes
- 1 balls X 11,000 = 11,000 Competition Factor
(I didn't take a picture of all five balls together before I came back to school. I hate forgetting stuff like that. At least you get an explanation...)
No comments:
Post a Comment